Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that's not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it's not a fiery inferno, it's certainly no heaven. It's gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn't leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what's really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she's figured out just how to do it. She'll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It'll be brutal . . . and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen's obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she's willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can't help herself when it comes to breaking rules . . . or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her. (From GOODREADS)

Expectation: Another Twitter book. All my recommendations come from Twitter these days. Following Daniel Marks through Twitter, and on Youtube, made me want to read this book. He has a great sense of humour and I figured when mixed with horror, that it would be a winning combination. HIGH expectation!

Market/Genre: Young Adult/Horror (I want to list a few more genres here...as it was so much more than horror...but horror it definitely was.)

Review:

How do I begin? First off, about the synopsis...it's just a little misleading. Bonesaw is AWESOME. And Velvet most assuredly has plans in her afterlife journey to make the despicable Bonesaw’s life a living hell. Don’t get me wrong. But this is only a side-plot in a most bodacious story about an incredibly built world living parallel to our own. PURGATORY is about to get into a kick-ass melee that can either spell the end of Earth, or, if Velvet Monroe has her way, the end of a few ill-meaning revolutionaries!

So, yes, Bonesaw is a focal point in Velvet’s story. Absolutely! And a fine one, at that. He’s a menacing serial killer with a penchant for cheese graters and knives. He’s a horror-ific delight! And Velvet secretly traipses between purgatory and our world with malignant intent in order to make Bonesaw suffer, while at the same time attempting to rescue his potential victims. And this is a wonderfully delightful plot-line in Velveteen.

But there is SO much more going on! And it is good. It is fantastic. Purgatory’s inmates are getting restless. They mean to invade our world and takeover our bodies. They mean to live again. Forever. As the revolution winds up, Velvet is in the forefront of the fight against it. This angry little girl is most assuredly spurred on by the passion built out of her life being stolen from the wicked, wicked man she calls Bonesaw (Fantastic name, by the way!). The injustice done to her makes her the queen of her peers. Her team is the best at what they do. And what they do is cross between that loosely veiled world of purgatory into ours…and save souls. So when Purgatory residents decide to invade Earth and live anew, it is Velvet who steps up to the plate to put a wrench in their works.

When certain evil elements in Purgatory plan an exodus, all hell breaks loose. Bitchy, loveable Velvet and her kickass team of avengers will do whatever it takes to put an end to the uprising. This is what Velveteen is really about. The fact that Velvet’s own dispute with Bonesaw is interwoven into this fantastical story is just pudding on the cake. Er…or icing on the whipped cream. Er…or the reader having their cake and eating it too.

Oh, what a wonderfully delightful read this was! I can’t say much more without giving away what happens, but I will say this: DANIEL MARKS is a king of description and detail and world-building! I SAW Purgatory…in all its wondrous, shabby, darkly festive glory! I saw it! He did such a wonderful job creating this world…it makes me want to call VELVETEEN a dystopian, but of course Purgatory is just an ethereal curtain away from our own world. At the onset of Velveteen our world is still in one piece, so a dystopian Velveteen is not.

Ooh…the graphic violence so well told in this tale! Truly a delight. The sassiness that is Velvet. The show-offy hotty, Nick, who was her forbidden love interest. The children sidekicks—the adorably hostile Luisa and her cranky, gas-addicted brother Logan. It was all a delight. Marks is a master at what he does. Velveteen was exquisite with humour and horror and romance and grit. This is a MUST read.

Velveteen truly is an extravaganza. The whole time I ‘walked’ the streets of Purgatory, I silently prayed that TIM BURTON would not only pick this book up…but fall in love with it. Dear Mr. Burton…please use your movie magic to recreate the splendidly frolicking world of Purgatory on the big screen. I’m begging you!

Expectation: MET. SURPASSED. CRUSHED. Thank you, Daniel Marks...because of you, I can now actually SEE Purgatory. It is a place. And it is fantastic (Ash-drab is a colour).

1 comment:

At sixteen, Velveteen Monroe was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that's not the problem.The problem is she landed in the City of the Dead. And while it's not a fiery inferno, it's certainly no heaven either. Grey, ashen and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do there. Which doesn't leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.Bonesaw.Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment he deserves. And she's figured out just how to do it. She'll haunt him for the rest of his days.It'll be brutal...and awesome.But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting could actually crack the foundation of her new world, not to mention jeopardize her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker. Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules . . . or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

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Review Policy

I will consider reviews based solely on whether or not I like the premise of a book. I enjoy reading YA fiction, as well as Adult contemporary and literary fiction. Some elements of paranormal or fantastical are welcome, but I enjoy these mostly in a contemporary setting. If you want to try me, send your request to TryThisBook@hotmail.com (I will get back to you either way.)

I will never review for money, and I will never give anything other than an honest review.

BIO

My name is Kevin Craig. I write young adult novels. My most recent are BURN BABY BURN BABY (Dec2014) and HALF DEAD & FULLY BROKEN (Jan2015). Prior novels are SUMMER ON FIRE (Jul2011), SEBASTIAN'S POET (Jun2012-NOT YA), THE REASONS (Apr2013-NOT YA). I am also a poet and a playwright.